News Archive
Maegan Murray, Washington State University Tri-Cities
Dr. Luiz Bertelli, an internal dosimetrist with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, will speak on a radiological incident leading to four deaths that occurred in Goiânia, Brazil, and how officials dealt with the incident.
The presentation, part of a Herbert M. Parker Lecture Series, will take place 5–6 pm Pacific Daylight Time on 21 October 2020 via the Washington State University Tri-Cities YouTube channel. During the event, attendees will be welcome to ask questions via the chat function as part of the YouTube stream.
The free public presentations are offered by the Herbert M. Parker Foundation in partnership with WSU Tri-Cities.
What happened in Goiânia?
In late 1985, a private radiotherapy institute located in Goiânia moved to a new facility, taking its 60Co teletherapy unit, but leaving in place a 137Cs unit, without notifying the Brazilian licensing authority as required by law. The old building was then partly demolished, but the 137Cs source was left unsecured.
On 13 September 1987, two people entered, found some scrap metal of value, and removed the source assembly from the radiation head, took it home, and tried to dismantle it. As a result, the source was ruptured, causing environmental contamination and external and internal exposure of several persons. Four people died due to very high radiation doses.
This lecture will describe how the accident was discovered, how it evolved, and how it was controlled, according to official sources in the literature. It will also include personal experiences by Bertelli, who participated as a lead member of the radiation dose assessments team, as well as aspects of individual monitoring and medical care to the victims.
